Lame effort from Leafs

Leafs vs Senators Nov. 12, 2011

Senators' goalie Craig Anderson retrieves the rebound off of Leafs' Philippe Dupuis on a point-blank shot in front of the net in the third period Saturday night at the ACC. Sens won 5-2. (Jack Boland/Toronto Sun

(Jack Boland / Toronto Sun / QMI Agency)

Leafs Tyler Bozak is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the first goal of the game for the Leafs in the first period. (Jack Boland / Toronto Sun)

Leafs' Mike Brown and Sens' Zenon Konopka have a tilt together in the first period. (Jack Boland / Toronto Sun)

(Jack Boland / Toronto Sun / QMI Agency)

Senators goalie Craig Anderson makes a save off his shoulder and watches the floating puck go up as Leafs Phil Kessel goes to the net. (Jack Boland / Toronto Sun)

(Jack Boland / Toronto Sun / QMI Agency)

Senators' Daniel Alfredsson (L) checks on his teammate Nick Foligno after he was high-sticked in the face during the second period. Foligno would score in the ensuing power play to put the Sens up 2-1. (Jack Boland / Toronto Sun)

(Jack Boland / Toronto Sun / QMI Agency)

Leafs Joffrey Lupul (19) is congratulated after scoring the second goal of the game for his team late in the third period. (Jack Boland / Toronto Sun)

(Jack Boland / Toronto Sun / QMI Agency)

Senators guard the net after a mad scramble in the third period. (Jack Boland / Toronto Sun)

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And all of it provided by the Maple Leafs, who are certainly going about it in a weird way to prove they legitimately can run with the big boys in the National Hockey League.

With the 2011 Hall class on hand, as well as hockey royalty Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Borje Salming among others, the Leafs had zero jump and couldn’t beat an Ottawa Senators team that had lost five in a row.

That’s inexcusable.

Despite losing in Buffalo the previous night, the Senators had little trouble beating the Leafs 5-2 before a crowd of 19,553 increasingly bored fans at the Air Canada Centre.

“We get a lead and sink down to a different level,” centre Tyler Bozak said. “We stop playing our game, stop getting pucks deep. We’re finding out that is not going to work.

“You don’t want teams coming in and thinking it’s not going to be a tough night.”

Coach Ron Wilson lamented after the game that the Leafs had no killer instinct. But they didn’t really have many instincts at all, and forget Doug Gilmour: The Leafs could have used Happy Gilmore.

The listless effort was puzzling for a few reasons. Toronto was not a tired club, having had just a short practice after winning in St. Louis on Thursday night. But seemingly easy passes are becoming a challenge for the Leafs to complete.

There was little physical emotion from the Leafs, who should have had a lift with Hall inductees Gilmour, Ed Belfour, Joe Nieuwendyk and Mark Howe watching. When the final buzzer sounded, Ottawa had out-hit the home side 36-20. The Sens also blocked 29 Leafs shots, an indication the Toronto players weren’t moving the puck around with authority.

Consider that Ottawa did not have a shot on goal until Jason Spezza’s harmless wrister was gloved by Ben Scrivens at 13:01 of the first period. But the Leafs had just four shots on Craig Anderson before that, largely unable to turn their fine defensive work into scoring chances at the other end.

Bozak scored his first of the season, finally, on a wrist shot in the opening period to start the scoring, but the Leafs didn’t threaten Anderson much. The Senators goalie finished with 31 saves, but the Leafs didn’t have much pressure until the third period.

And when Anderson made a large pad save on Dion Phaneuf, the Senators went back the other way to make it a 3-1 game, as Zack Smith kept the puck on a 2-on-1 and beat Scrivens to the short side. That was 48 seconds into the third.

Joffrey Lupul banked the puck in off a Senator with less than three minutes to play, but a pair of Sens goals into the empty Leafs net — including a long own-goal by Clarke MacArthur — sealed the Leafs’ hopes for a comeback.

Toronto had five power plays, but didn’t score on any of them.

“We’re going to have to figure out how to push the pace for 60 minutes and develop that kind of instinct to push a team down,” Wilson said. “We have to push the pace better and that is where the focus has to be on Monday when we practise again.”

The bottom line for the Leafs, and if it’s not worrisome behind closed doors, it should be, is that this rut has been getting deeper for a few games now.

Yes, the Leafs have won two in their past five, but they needed Scrivens to be excellent in both, especially on Thursday in St. Louis, for those victories to happen. If Toronto had anything approaching bad goaltending for those road victories in Columbus and St. Louis, there undoubtedly would be a five-game losing skid. In the games the Leafs have lost in that span, all at home, they have been out-scored 17-3.

Scrivens, who was a lot more comfortable than he was in his home debut a week earlier against the Boston Bruins, was asked which of the goals he wanted back.

“All of them,” Scrivens, who made 19 saves, said. “There was a weird flow to the game, a weird sense on the ice. But there is no excuse.”